This can be caused by two main factors:
Exposing citizens to alternative media can have minimal effects
Media literacy interventions sometimes work, but often fail or backfire
Argument: Prompting citizens to learn about features of media coverage on their own avoids:
See whether this leads:
Paying attention to media coverage can make citizens:
Learn about what different outlets cover
Change perceptions media outlet’s bias
Seek better sources of information
Change their political attitudes
An autocratic regime with state control of media environment
The full-scale invasion in Ukraine exacerbated state media control
State media is heavily pro-government
But some more balanced media is still available
\(\Rightarrow\) Media beliefs and consumption are likely hard to shift
4-wave panel study among 1176 adult Russians enrolled in online panel in August-October 2023:
Intervention: Complete content-analysis tasks at the end of survey in waves 1-3
\(\Rightarrow\) effects 2-6 weeks after last content-analysis
4–6 news headline segments per wave from combination of three TV stations:
After each video, 6 questions asking to count how many times the following was discussed:
Kultura:
Control group
Rossiya-1 & Kultura:
State group
Rossiya-1 & RTVI:
State + Independent group
Lower support for the government and stronger concerns about Ukraine
This happens even after exposure to Rossiya-1 coverage only!
News awareness about pro-gov’t news \(\Uparrow\) mainly among supporters; critical news \(\Uparrow\) mainly among critics
Approval of authorities \(\Downarrow\), and concern about Ukraine \(\Uparrow\) among Putin critics
The political effects are limited to those who are more critical of the government in the first place